This proposal requests partial support for the second Head and Neck Cancer Symposium entitled From Pathways to Therapies to be held September 21, 2015, at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. This meeting is highly significant because head and neck cancer is associated with high morbidity and mortality and with limited available treatment options. The meeting will bring together established clinical, translational and basic science investigators, promising junior scientists, and experts from associated cancer fields in a small setting. The overall goal of this symposium is to expedite progress in research in the area of head and neck cancer biology and treatment by promoting extensive discussions and by challenging some approaches to the selection of biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The idea for symposium was born out of the Oral Cancer Research Initiative, a multidisciplinary collaborative among Boston University, Dana-Farber, Brown University and the Forsyth Institute, that brings together clinicians and researchers from diverse disciplines to elucidate th etiology and pathogenesis of oral cancer and to expedite the development of new biomarkers and effective therapies. The symposium has four specific aims that will: 1) highlight most up to date discoveries from genomic- and epigenomic-based interrogations likely to identify novel targets within pathway networks, including HPV-mediated alterations and oral microbiome/host interactions; 2) discuss advances in new technologies with applications for detection and treatment of head and neck cancers, including optical probes and minimally invasive robotic surgery; 3) assess global aspects of head and neck cancer etiology and evaluate the status of head and neck cancer disparities; and 4) provide a platform for dynamic and challenging discussions focused on the evaluation of newly identified druggable targets in the context of mechanistic and functional complexities of pro-tumorigenic pathways. The objective of this symposium is for it to be viewed as an essential step for young clinical and basic investigators in building networks that may lead to productive collaboration and clinical and scientific achievement. The program will comprise four plenary sessions, and one keynote address by an investigator of international stature. In addition, a day-long poster session will serve as a venue to showcase new research findings and to further promote discussions and exchanges of ideas. The major themes of the meeting will focus on: 1) pathway targets and epidemiology; 2) new technologies and patient care delivery; 3) current and future therapies; and 4) clinical problems and challenging cases. An important feature of the program will be the inclusion of oral mibrobiome/host interactions, global etiologies and head and neck cancer disparities. Additional highlights will include the presentation of cutting edge, minimally invasive technologies and discussion of challenging issues in the treatment of this malignancy. The meeting will facilitate the aligning of recent breakthrough discoveries and innovative technologies with the development of new therapies for head and neck cancer and further drive innovative treatments for this devastating disease.